jpowcode

I have a few surface mount projects I'd like to work on as decided it was time to replace my ageing 18W fixed temperature soldering iron with decent temperature controlled soldering station. After doing a bit of research my first impressions were just how expensive these things were. A Weller would have been nice, but the price was off putting. In the end I plumped for this Xytronic model from Rapid electronics. First impressions are pretty good. It's very solidly built, with both the stand and the base unit feeling like they will last a long time. The iron itself feels quite nice to hold, the bits are easy to change and the connection to the base unit feels quite reliable. My first job was to solder a few banana plugs onto some power cables. This is a job that my old 18w iron just could not cope with. The heat wicked away so fast through the mass of the banana plug that it just would not heat enough to let the solder stick. The Xytronic however with it's 100w of power has no such difficulty. I changed the bit to a nice wide chisel tip to allow the heat to transfer and it worked like a dream.  Next up will be having a go at some surface mount components.

Update

I'v now used this to solder a few surface mount components including some fairly small package sizes. It performed really well. It heats up and changes temperature in virtually no time at all so soldering different components that need different temperature is not a problem. There's loads of power so heat transfer is rapid. A very good purchase.